Justification:
Listed as Endangered as there is reason to believe the species has declined by at least 50% over the past three generations (36 years, given a generation length of 12 years) due primarily to hunting and habitat loss.

This species occurs in southwestern China (Dulongjiang Valley, northwestern Yunnan) and northeastern Myanmar. In Myanmar, south of the Hukaung valley, it is found only east of the Chindwin River, with allied T. pileatus to the west (Pocock 1939). The situation in the Chindwin headwaters (Hukawng valley) is unclear, because animals show morphological variation suggesting the possibility of intergradation with T. pileatus and/or undescribed variation within T. shortridgei (Duckworth and Tizard pers. comm.). Morphologically typical animals also occur east of the Hukaung (Pidaung) and north almost to Hkakaborazi (Pocock 1939). It also occurs along the Dulong River in Gongshan District, Yunnan (Groves 2001).

This species occurs primarily in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. It is largely arboreal, sometimes terrestrial, and folivorous. Records with known altitudes range from 200 to 2,500 m (Pocock 1939) but it is possible that the species does not have viable populations in the upper 600-1,200 m of this range: collecting expeditions very rarely encountered it in the highlands, compared with its evident abundance in the Chindwin lowlands. It does not occur in the lower Chindwin, below the change from largely evergreen forest to largely deciduous.

These animals are hunted for food and traditional “medicine,” sometimes as illegal exports to China. Habitat loss for agriculture and wood extraction is also a major threat. A large length of the Chindwin (where the species was discovered) and its adjacent plains are scheduled to be inundated by the Tazone hydro-electric power dam. As well as direct loss of habitat through inundation this will result in massive increases in hunting as the construction labourers will be expected to live off the land, and the reservoir formed will greatly increase accessibility to a huge area of foothill forest; without specific, directed, management, hunters will no doubt take advantage of this. A very large area of suitable habitat falls within the proposed Hukaung Tiger Reserve, but it is unclear whether this area supports morphologically typical animals. If they do not occur in Hukaung, habitat loss is a sever threat to the species, because most other protected areas in the Myanmar part of its range are highland, and habitat below 900 m is heavily degraded and fragmented, and such processes are ongoing.

This species is listed in CITES Appendix I. In Myanmar it is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Law and occurs in at least two protected areas: Hukaung Tiger Reserve where taxonomic status is unresolved, Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary and Hkakaborazi National Park. In China it is a protected species and occurs in one protected area, Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve (L. Yongcheng pers. comm.).